A renewable resource!
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Hi - been checking out this forum since Spring and thought it was time to register and post. Iām located outside Philadelphia, PA and grow figs, jujubes, persimmons, cherries, citrus, pomegranates, along with some tropicals such as guava, papaya, starfruit, mango, and a few other things. Seems like I found the right place to share my passion of fruit growing.
David
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Hi, David, hope you enjoy your time here. Lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here. Interesting that youāre growing so much tropical stuff in PA. I guess those are all potted, and you move them in and out, or maybe you have a greenhouse?
@Drew51 is a big fig grower, and heās in Michigan. @jujubemulberry and @Bede are into the jujuās. There are others, of course.
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hey David, welcome! I like to grow tropicals, but mostly ornamentals, it would be cool to see how youāre doing with them, and good source suppliers would be cool too. I always wanted to grow starfruit.
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I take my potted tropicals and squeeze them into a 8x4x6 grow tent in the basement with LED lights during the winter. Itās about time to upgrade so my first new post was about picking a greenhouse.
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Drew - I got my starfruit from Logeeās and a few other things from them. They are a based in CT so I can usually get things in two days (I try to avoid long shipments from the West coast). They always tempt me with new catalogs every month. Iāve probably ordered from a dozen different suppliers so if you have something specific I can share my source and experience.
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Hi DavidS. Iām in Burnaby, BC, Canada and other than your jujubes and some of the more exotic fruits, we seem to enjoy growing very similar plants. I donāt know if there is a source for those tropicals you listed here in Canada so you are very fortunate. Good luck with your search for a bigger, better greenhouse.
Anthony
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I think this is the spot to say hello and introduce myself. Name is Jim and I live in Langhorne, PA. Zone 7. I had randomly searched the internet for various fruit growing help until finding this forum, which looks wonderful.
I live in the suburbs and have my orchard on the side of my house. I am currently growing apples (Enterprise, Golden Delicious and Jonafree), Pears (starkās grafted Barlett and a red pear and a Starkling Delicious), Asian Pears (Housi and New Century), two pawpaws, two peaches (unsure type), jujube, Stanley plums, a Japanese plum graft from Stark, potted lemons and clementines, and a few fig varieties, and an Asian persimmon. I also have 6 blueberries, a strawberry patch, raspberries and blackberries, black currants, and Nanking cherries. I think thatās it.
Again, I look forward to learning more about my orchard from this forum and am excited to contribute any knowledge I may have.
Jim
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Welcome Jim. You have a well balanced variety of fruit trees.
Tony
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Hey David. I just registered for the forum also and am also outside of Philly. What kind of cherries are you growing and have you had any luck? Are you bringing the tropical fruits inside, (I assume so) and how do you maintain them once in? I keep my lemon and clemintine under a shop light, which keeps it going, but doesnāt seem ideal.
Nice hearing from someone in my area.
Jim
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Hey Jim. Iām growing White Gold and Black York cherries. Theyāre still young but I got a few White Gold this year and they tasted pretty good - had some crunch and sweetness. The Japanese beetles showed up last week and were all over those trees. I had to spray some Sevin on them otherwise there would be no leaves left. I tried some neem oil first but they were unfazed.
As for the tropicals, I overwinter them in the basement in a grow tent under LED lights. I get minimum growth but minimal leaf loss vs the sunny window approach in the past.
How large are your pawpaws? I just picked up two Peterson varieties in June so have a ways to go.
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My Pennsylvania pawpaw is about 5 foot high and has flowered the past two years. The other ābasicā pawpaw I bought from Stark Broās is only about a foot tall after the top of the plant died about a month ago. Iām going to put in a Susquehanna next spring.
Iām going for organic at this point, spraying with Surround and Spinosad. Japanese beetles defoliated a lot of the older leaves in some of my trees but there still seems to be growth so I took no action. They are destroying the blackberries though.
I just picked my first homegrown organic peaches two days ago. They were a little smaller than softballs with only a tiny bit of scab and tasted delicious. It was a happy moment!
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Hey Jim and David, Iām SW of Philly near the state line. Looking forward to hearing from you guys!
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yes, @DavidS , totally agree with @subdood_ky_z6b about this forumās clout on the subject matter
feel free to ask questions, and likewise, feel free to share your knowledge 
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Nice to hear from you hoosierbanana. Any tree varieties you would recommend that work well in your area?
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Agreed. Now Jim just needs to continue adding to his collection like the rest of us fruit-nuts:heart_eyes: Welcome to the forum Jim. Growing fruits is addictive, aināt it?
Anthony
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I started with trees from Starkās Bros. Got the catalog in the mail and ordered like two almond trees, 12 blackberries, combination plum and pear trees, and the disease resistant apple three pack. I knew nothing about fruit trees, but have been a serious gardener for years now. My wife talked me out of the almonds and I ordered only one blackberry. I didnāt kill the apples immediately, which was encouraging.
Now I am hooked. I am in the mindset that āwell, I have some trees and some more room, which I just have to mow anyway, why not fill that room with some more trees!ā My wife thought I was nuts but my kids find me courageous. Now I have 18 fruit trees with plans to add 6 more next spring. I love learning about it and having my kids learn about it, about bees and pollination and good old hole digging. They take more interest in the fruit than say the collards or chard, for obvious reasons.
Anyway, I am so happy I found this forum and thanks again to everyone for their advice!
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I say, move quickly, while the kids are still naive enough to consider you courageous:wink:.
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Hi Jim, so far Iāve tried well over 100 different varieties of figs, and about 50 of the more promising ones in groundā¦ What are called āEtna typesā have been the best overall, able to fruit after winter kill, tasty, rain resistant, early ripening, etc. There are a few more I am hopeful might take the trophy, but it will be very hard to beat the Etnas!
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Careful, these guys will talk you into trees youāve never even heard of!
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